


Brave Face

by Laureninthesky



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Co-Parenting, Divorce, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Infertility, Infidelity, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:01:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28493547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laureninthesky/pseuds/Laureninthesky
Summary: Harvey and the farmer have been divorced for two years now. She's moved on, so why can't he? The only spark of light in his life is their young daughter, Cora. They share custody, but with the farmer's new husband Elliott spending weeks away from home at a time to finish his new novel, Harvey is happy to step in and help. Anything to spend more time with his daughter. However, the more time he spends at the farm, the harder it is to remember why they ever split...
Relationships: Elliott/Female Player (Stardew Valley), Harvey/Female Player (Stardew Valley)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 52





	1. Chapter 1

Harvey sighed as he stared out of his window, watching his ex wife walk through town, their daughter in tow. As thrilled as he was to see his daughter, he could barely manage to stay civil with her mother, Marcy. Two years out from the divorce and though the feeling was blunted now, it still stung like hell. He took a deep breath to gather himself and descended the stairs to greet them at the clinic. 

He opened the door and all of his angst washed away with the look on his daughter’s face.

“Daddy!” she shouted, breaking free from Marcy’s hand and running at him, arms wide. He knelt down and caught her, swinging her up into a hug.

“Cora! Baby, I’m so glad you’re finally here,” he said, holding her close. She smiled and laughed, rubbing her face against his. Marcy smiled, walking up to them slowly, letting them have the moment. Cora began to squirm and wiggle away from him and he reluctantly set her down. She ran inside the clinic behind him, eager as always to inspect the model skeleton, her newest obsession. 

Marcy walked up to him, her arms crossed, a pleasant smile on her face. Harvey’s guard went up again as he stood to face her, dusting off his knees. 

“Hey Harvey,” she said, her voice unassuming.

“Hi Marcy.” He gave her nothing. He kept his tone flat, his face even. 

“What do you have planned?” she asked, her interest genuine. He softened ever so slightly as he always did when discussing his daughter. She had been much longed for, coming only after years of trying and failing, a miserable cycle of hope and loss that slowly disintegrated their marriage. By the time she was born, there was nothing left between them except contempt. They divorced shortly after her first birthday.

“We’re going to go to the park, then maybe spend some time at the community center tomorrow. I’m making macaroni and cheese, and we’re going to watch Junimo City,” he said, listing off all the things he’d been thinking about for the past week. They had 50/50 custody, one week on, one week off. Next year she’d start preschool with Sam and Sebastian’s daughter Jane and would likely spend more time at Harvey’s place for convenience, but for now the arrangement worked. 

Marcy nodded approvingly. “Sounds good. Just keep a close eye on her temperature. She was a little warm when I put her down last night, but no fever.”

Harvey straightened. “Has she been fussy at all?”

“No, nothing like that. It was probably nothing. It’s the summer, after all. She spent all day running around with the dog.” 

Harvey sighed, crossing his arms. “I wish you would call me when things like that come up,” he said, reviving their endless battle. 

Marcy rolled her eyes. “Harvey, she’s fine. It’s fine. I don’t need a medical degree to know what’s going on with my daughter. I’m her mother.”

He clenched his teeth. “Still, I just would appreciate--”

“What, so you can come over to my house and give Elliott the cold shoulder and make us all uncomfortable while you spoil her unnecessarily?” she said, cutting in. Her voice rose, and Harvey backed down. He hated fighting in front of Cora. 

“Anyway, I don’t have time for this conversation,” she said, handing over the baby bag that they used to shuffle Cora’s belongings back and forth. “I’ve got to get the starfruit harvest in. Call me if you need anything,” she said, and pushed past him to kiss Cora goodbye. 

Harvey ached at the contact, hostile as it was. Marcy had remarried within a year, but Harvey was still single. The last time he’d had sex was shortly after Cora was conceived, before they knew Marcy was pregnant. After that, they were cautious of another miscarriage, and then caught up in the baby haze and uninterested in each other. 

As always, Marcy was right about Cora being fine. She was a strong, healthy girl just like her mother, and they had little to worry about with her. Their week together passed all too quickly, and at the end of the fun, they walked together down the long path to the farm, hand in hand. She was almost four now, and her sentences were taking on more coherent structure. He listened as she talked, asking the occasional question.

“Are you excited to go back to the farm?” he asked. 

She nodded enthusiastically, her head bobbing. “Gonna see Gracie,” she said. Gracie was the farm dog, an energetic mutt that he’d loved in his time there as well. He smiled. 

“And Ellie is gonna teach me letters!” she said, nearly hollering in her excitement. Ellie was her name for Elliott, her new stepfather. He’d been around since she was a baby, and she probably couldn’t remember a time when he didn’t live at the farmhouse with them. Harvey sighed. He was happy that they were bonding, but jealousy stung him all the same. He was supposed to be the smart parent, the one teaching her everything way ahead of school. He’d have to step up his game. He thought he’d have more time. 

He mustered up some enthusiasm. He didn’t want her to lose interest in learning because she sensed his petty jealousy.

“That’s really exciting! You’ll have to show off your new knowledge to me when you get back. We can practice together!” he said, grinning. 

Soon Cora was yawning and walking slow. He knelt down and let her climb onto his back, and he carried her piggyback the rest of the way. By the time they arrived she was out cold, her wispy curls plastered against his jacket. 

He knocked on the door gently and held a finger to his lips as Marcy opened the door. She stood in the doorway smiling at them, and he thought he saw tears brimming in her eyes for a moment, but finally she pulled back and ushered him into the house. He followed her up the stairs and they silently put Cora to bed, pulling off her shoes and unbuttoning her coat, all without waking her. Marcy set the baby monitor and they closed the door, leaving her to sleep. 

Elliott was nowhere to be seen, and Marcy was feeling chatty. She invited him to stay for a glass of wine, and he obliged her. He was still feeling the dreamy bliss of the week with Cora, and was in a good mood. Marcy’s wine never disappointed, either, and he took every opportunity to have some. 

“So where is your husband?” he asked, loosening his tie. It was painful to say the word husband, but he did it anyway, a little twist of the knife in his own heart. 

“Oh, he’s on deadline,” she said, flippant. “He’s down at the cabin, said he’d probably be there on and off until the end of the year.” Harvey started. 

“The end of the year? He’s sleeping there, too?”

She sat back, looking resigned. “For now, yeah. It’s not a big deal. He just needs to finish the book, and he didn’t have a good place where he could concentrate here,” she explained. Harvey thought she sounded a little defensive, and he was skeptical. He never had any issue at all finding places to concentrate on the farm, even after Cora was born. Perhaps they were fighting?

He decided he wouldn’t pry. “Well, if you ever need any help with Cora, let me know. You know I’m available most of the time,” he said. He’d take any opportunity at extra time with his daughter.

  
  
  
  


Harvey arrived home later that night tired, alone, and with a bit of a headache from the wine. He’d had too much, he’d known it at the time, and now he was paying for it. When he first got together with Marcy, she’d made him feel so young. Now the cracks were really showing. He was approaching forty and feeling it. 

There was a nagging dissatisfaction burning through him. He tried to ignore the feeling, but it was insistent. He sighed, giving in. He needed to get off--it was more a physical need than emotional at this point, and he spent so much time trying to force it out of his mind. He usually ended up feeling pathetic and depressed afterward. Still, he couldn’t escape it. He pulled out his phone and opened an incognito tab, kicking off his shoes and trousers. 

He browsed through videos, scrolling haphazardly with his thumb, his other hand on his cock, half-hard in anticipation. Finally he found what he was looking for--a woman that looked enough like Marcy that he could squint and make it work. She had honey-brown hair in a long, loose braid and a tall build. Not an exact match, but good enough to his wine-tipsy brain. He turned the sound all the way down and jerked off, imagining Marcy and how they used to fuck when they were first married, before they were actively “trying” to get pregnant. “If it happens, it happens,” she’d said, so carefree. How he’d loved her.

He remembered how hungrily they’d fucked, how eager he was to cum inside her, how she begged him to do it. He wasn’t even looking at his phone anymore. The memory cut like a knife, but it did the trick like nothing else. When he was finished, he sat catching his breath, staring blankly at the wall. He was tempted to cry. The lump rose in his throat, and tears stung in his eyes, but he fought off the urge, shaking his head. He should be over the crying phase by now. It had been two years. 

He put on some upbeat music and forced himself to get in the shower and wash off his shame.

Twenty minutes later, his dignity restored and feeling slightly more sober, he emerged from the shower in a cloud of steam. He towel-dried his hair and pulled on his boxers, getting ready for bed. It was late--near eleven. A ping sounded from the bathroom counter. He picked up his phone to find a text from Marcy.

_Where is Bubby?_

“Fuck,” he said out loud, tilting his head back in exasperation. Bubby was Cora’s current favorite stuffy, a little oatmeal colored bear with a red scarf. He searched his memory. He couldn’t recall putting Bubby in the baby bag that evening. That wasn’t completely out of the ordinary--Cora often forgot that Bubby existed and didn’t ask for him for the whole week, only to demand him at the most random moments. He flipped the lights on in the apartment and began his search. 

His phone buzzed on the counter, and he ran over to answer it, pushing wet hair out of his eyes. He could hear Cora screaming before Marcy even began to speak. 

“I’m looking, I’m looking!” he said urgently. “I’ll be over there as soon as I can.”

“Thanks,” Marcy said, having to shout over Cora’s screeching wails. She hung up without saying anything else. Harvey tossed his phone onto the bed and began shaking out his blankets, then Cora’s blankets. Eventually he found Bubby wedged behind his record player. He stared at the smushed face of the little bear with confusion for a moment, then shrugged and pulled him free. 

He pulled on a tee and running shorts and jogged back to the farm. He’d been running a lot more lately, especially on his off weeks, and the soft, springy ground between his apartment and the farm was particularly easy on his knees. He paced himself well and arrived at the farm in record time. The night was silent as he approached, and he texted Marcy to let her know he was there instead of knocking. He’d hate to wake her up if she’d just fallen asleep. 

Marcy opened the door and stood staring at him, an exhausted smile on her face. He handed her Bubby. She took the bear without a word, but kept staring. He was slimmer than he’d been the last time she’d seen him in so little clothing. He blushed, but privately thought he was indulging his own vanity by presuming that she was checking him out. She was probably just exhausted from Cora’s fit. 

She seemed to consider something for a moment, then stepped aside and nodded for him to come in. 

  
“Come look at this,” she whispered, putting a finger to her lips. Harvey slipped off his shoes and left them on the porch, following behind her. She led him upstairs to the nursery and pushed the door open slowly. Harvey looked in. Cora lay on the floor, arms and legs flung at odd angles, her mouth open wide as if she’d fallen asleep mid-screech, still in the throes of her tantrum. Toys and blocks were scattered around her, pushed and knocked over and thrown in her tiny rage. 

Harvey covered his mouth to laugh, trying to stifle the noise. Marcy stood just behind him, putting a hand on his lower back as they looked in on their daughter. He turned to her as if to share a kiss in this shared moment of delight in the person that they had made together, but stopped himself awkwardly, turning away. He didn’t look to see if she’d noticed, and she didn’t say anything if she had. 

He nodded into the room. “Let’s get her back to bed.”

Once she was safely tucked in, Bubby in her arms, the two exhausted grown-ups went back downstairs together. Harvey prepared to leave.

“Thanks for coming on such short notice,” said Marcy. “She woke up mad and I just couldn’t get her to calm down.”

“It’s no problem, it was my fault. I should have made sure Bubby was in the bag before we left.” 

Marcy shook her head, dismissing the apology. “No worries. It all worked out. Where was it, by the way?” she asked.

He chuckled. “She had him wedged behind the record player for some reason. Sometimes I wonder about her,” he said. They shared a grin at their daughter’s toddler whims. “Anyway, I should get back. See you later,” he said, waving. 

“Sure. Goodnight, Harvey.”

He jogged into the night, mourning his failed marriage once again. She was nice to him tonight, but there would be bad times again. There were always more fights to come with her, even if she was kind for a while. He tried to convince himself that it was for the best that they weren’t together anymore, but after a night like that, all his reasons rang hollow. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I originally intended this to be pure smut, but ended up enjoying writing the parenting aspect more than I thought I would?? Big surprise. Anyway, hope you like it! I don't have a particular schedule planned for this work, much like many of my others, but I do plan to continue.


	2. Chapter 2

“I just think it’s suspicious!” Gus said, leaning over the bar. Harvey sighed. He’d had this conversation one too many times. 

“It doesn’t matter anymore. At all. Even if she was cheating on me with Elliott, it has absolutely no bearing on our life now.” He sipped at his beer. He should have changed the subject, but there was something comforting in Gus’s familiar diatribe. For some reason, Gus had developed an unshakeable picture of their divorce that cast Harvey as the wronged party and Marcy as the villain. When Harvey was feeling low, it was soothing to listen to someone else shit-talk his ex. However, tonight it felt scummier than usual. 

He didn’t believe that Marcy had cheated on him. She’d been exhausted after Cora’s birth, and as soon as she was able to work again, she’d thrown herself into running the farm, too busy for anyone but the baby. He would have noticed if she’d been stepping out on him. And then, at the end, he wouldn’t have cared. 

Rain pattered against the windows of the Stardrop. Gus shrugged, wiping out a glass. “Could’ve gotten a better settlement,” he said. Harvey shook his head, not bothering to answer. The settlement had been more than fair; she actually still paid him alimony. He was more comfortable now than he’d ever been before, other than when they were married.

Gus looked like he wanted to say something else, glancing at Harvey out of the corner of his eye, then looking back down at the glass he was polishing. 

“What is it?” Harvey asked. He wasn’t particularly interested to hear Gus’s new take, but he was annoyed by the weird glances, so he figured he’d rather have it out.

“You ever DNA test Cora?” he asked. This was the first he’d ever mentioned it, the first anyone had ever mentioned it. Harvey slammed his glass down on the bar, sloshing beer over the rim. Gus jumped, surprised at such a violent reaction from the usually quiet doctor. 

The initial flare of anger faded quickly, and Harvey apologized, cleaning up his mess with bar napkins. “No, I’ve never DNA tested my  _ daughter _ ,” he said, exasperated. “You know she looks just like me, right?” he said, pulling out his phone and opening up his camera reel, brightening the moment her little face showed on screen.

After the twentieth photo, Gus put his hands up in defeat. 

Harvey paid his tab and walked home under his umbrella, enjoying the soft pressure of the water hitting the umbrella in his hand. He was planning to watch an episode of that new show Maru kept talking about, maybe read a few articles he'd bookmarked the week before. He checked his phone just inside the door as he slid his umbrella into the stand and saw the text from Marcy.

_ Can you come watch Cora? Grillonie is calving _

He snorted at the cow's name. She always came up with the strangest names for her animals. Even her suggestions for their daughter's name were ridiculous. He'd vetoed everything she had come up with except for the name Suna, and in the end they'd scrapped it and gone with Cora instead because they googled it and found out that Suna was a curried beef dish in the Gotoro Empire. 

_ Be right there,  _ he responded, pulling his umbrella out again and leaving for the farm down the muddy path.

He went straight to the barn where he found Cora fussing and squirming in a baby swing that she was much too old for now. Marcy was elbow-deep in the cow. She waved with her free hand while Harvey cringed, turning away to free Cora from the restraints. 

"Thanks, Harvey," she said, returning her attention to the cow. "This may take a while, is that alright? There's plenty in the fridge. She's already had her lunch."

"Happy to help," Harvey said, making faces at Cora to get a laugh out of her. She was grumpy from her confinement, but he'd snap her out of it soon. "I didn't have anything planned anyway."

He carried her away back to the house.

A few hours later as he was readying Cora for a nap, Marcy returned to the farmhouse. He finished up with Cora and left her there snoozing peacefully.

He slowly walked back downstairs. Marcy’s mud-caked boots were by the door. He could hear the shower running. He walked to the bathroom door and knocked gently.

“Everything okay?” he asked. Normally she would have come up to say something to Cora before getting in the shower, no matter how filthy she was. He knew--he’d seen her do it. 

“Come in,” she said, her voice loud over the noise from the shower. He winced, hoping she wouldn’t wake Cora. There was no awkwardness between them as he stepped into the steamy bathroom. He’d seen it all with her, it wasn’t like it was new. Once inside, it almost sounded like she was crying. 

“What happened?” he asked, feeling his heart softening to her once more. It was dangerous to keep letting her get to him this way. She’d just hurt him again and again. 

“Stillborn,” she said, and he could see her shoulders sag in her silhouette. “Had to drag it out.”

It was like a kick to the stomach. Their first miscarriage had been early, before they’d told anyone. Painful, yes. The grief had been consuming. But they still held out hope for another. These things happened all the time, it wasn’t uncommon at all. 

And then the second came at five months, after she was showing. After they’d told everyone. After they thought they were out of the woods. After they’d painted the nursery and picked out names and planned the shower. Devastating.

“I’m sorry.” He could think of nothing else to say. They’d already said everything there possibly was to say to each other on the subject. 

She was silent for a long while before she spoke again. “Do you ever think about the ones we lost?” 

_ Yes. Constantly.  _

“Every now and then,” he said, scared to bare his heart. 

“Sometimes I think about what it would be like for Cora to have siblings.”

Harvey sniffed, clenching his teeth to try to hold back the tears. It’s not that he wasn’t happy with just Cora. He felt guilty even thinking of her as  _ just  _ Cora. But when they first married, he’d imagined a few kids, running around and playing together on the farm. Of course, his life looked incredibly different than how he’d imagined when he first married, but the loss of that dream still ached. 

The water shut off suddenly. Before Harvey could leave, Marcy pushed the curtain back. Even though her face was wet from the shower, it was obvious that she was still crying. At the sight of her face, Harvey’s tears began to fall as well. She reached for him and before he could think, they were holding each other, shaking. He wrapped his arms around her to pull her closer, intoxicated by the touch of another person, but she turned rigid, pushing him away. 

He stepped back, startled, and she pulled the shower curtain closed between them. “You should go,” she said. 

“Of course,” he said, and picked up his phone off the counter. He left without another word. 

Outside the rain had slowed to a light drizzle, and he didn’t bother to open up his umbrella again. He was already soaked from Marcy’s embrace. He walked home feeling profoundly destabilized. 

He walked back slowly, emotions swirling. It was strange to know that after all this time and animosity, his reaction to her touch was still the same. He hadn’t even considered pulling away or stepping out of her reach. He’d moved in closer, tried to escalate. He would have fucked her if she wanted him to. Of course, he had no special reason to hold back since he was unattached, but if someone had asked him what he’d do if his ex wife tried to hug him naked a few hours ago, he would have answered differently than how he’d behaved. He found it deeply unpleasant to discover that he was still completely at her mercy.

It was just like her to lose control of her emotions without considering the consequences to other people. What if Harvey had still been in love with her? Her actions would have left him completely miserable, he thought to himself. She didn’t think about Harvey’s feelings or Elliott’s before pulling Harvey into a wet, naked hug. She was only thinking of herself, as usual. 

It had always been that way with her. After the miscarriages, she curled in on herself in her grief, absorbing Harvey’s support without realizing that he needed support of his own, unable to accept that it was a shared grief. The end result was that they processed separately, her resentment growing in thinking that Harvey was having an easier time of it, and his resentment growing from her studiously avoiding noticing his pain. 

They’d argued endlessly about it in hushed voices while she was pregnant with Cora and made “I feel” statements to each other about it in couples’ therapy, but ultimately there wasn’t enough time to seal the cracks before their daughter was born and they had a whole new set of circumstances to fight about. 

He sighed, digging his keys out of his pocket as he reached the clinic. He looked up and saw Abigail standing under the awning of Pierre’s, a cigarette in her hand, her face streaked with tears. He approached her slowly, giving an awkward wave. 

“Everything alright?” he asked sheepishly. Clearly everything was not alright. It was a stupid question, but he barely knew her. He didn’t want to pry. 

She snorted, shaking her head. “Fuck off, Harvey,” she said, and dropped the cigarette to the ground, stomping it out under her boot. The door to the store swung shut behind her as she retreated.

_ Fine, then, _ he thought.  _ Fuck you too. _

But to some extent it was reassuring to see proof of someone else’s struggle. He wasn’t the only person in town with problems, or a confusing life. Perspective. Just what he needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! This is definitely becoming my favorite WIP. Shoutout to the SDV animal name generator--I love you, never change.


End file.
